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Cowboys Fire Phillips After Third Straight Loss

Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips reacts to an officials call against the Washington Redskins during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

After compiling a 34-22 record over three and a half seasons—including two NFC East titles—Wade Phillips was fired as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys on Monday, just one week after owner Jerry Jones had said his job was safe. Despite his overall record and owner’s assurances, the move still didn’t come as much of a surprise; the Cowboys were 1-7 this season and had given up 24 or more points in every game but two this season. In their last three games, the Cowboys gave up 40 or more points twice. Since Phillips also ran the defense, there really wasn’t much he could point to this season that might have saved his job. A comically bad start to the season and the 31st-ranked defense combined to make this team one of the most glaring disappointments in the NFL.

Phillips is replaced by Jason Garrett, who is one of about 17 Garretts in the Cowboys organization (in reality, there are three: new head coach Jason, tight ends coach John, and director of pro personnel Judd. Their father, Jim, scouted for the Cowboys until retiring 2004). Garrett had run the Dallas offense under Phillips and had turned down head coaching interviews with other teams over the past few years to remain with the Cowboys. Although names like Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher will be repeated constantly as potential head coaching replacements, Jerry Jones seems to admire the Garrett family and will most likely give the former Dallas backup quarterback every chance to right the wayward ship and seize the head coaching job on a permanent basis. Working for him immediately is a drastic change in style from Phillips, who exits Dallas as a universally-loved coach who just couldn’t get his players motivated in a lost season. “Players really liked and respected Phillips — in large part because he never called them out in public or dared chafe his quarterback or waive a malcontent like Brad Childress did in Minnesota,” NFL.com’s Steve Wyche writes. “The things Childress has done to draw the ire from the media, public and a lot of his players is what Cowboys Nation wishes Phillips would have done from time-to-time.” Former Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, in his Sports Illustrated column, believes that the firing was inevitable, especially coming off the heels of a third straight pounding. “Firing Phillips was the correct and necessary course of action,” Bettis writes. “The Cowboys’ struggles go far beyond their head coach, but he was no doubt part of the overall problem. When you’ve got a team with loads of talent that’s not playing close to potential, the head coach is going to pay the ultimate price.”

ESPN’s Calvin Watkins says that Cowboys players should expect to see a change in philosophy and coaching demeanor immediately. “While Phillips might be noted for trying to be a father figure to some players, Garrett is more like the older brother who has the good credit, marries the pretty girl and does things the right way,” he writes. “If the players don’t like Garrett, so what. At 1-7, they have no choice.” While most people focus on what a good guy Phillips is (more proof: WFAA reports that he attended a fundraiser Monday night just hours after being fired), ESPN’s Stats & Information group are rare defenders of Phillips’s on-field prowess, reporting that he had the second-highest winning percentage of the six Dallas coaches hired under Jerry Jones, besting both Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells.

While plenty of people are looking forward to Garrett assuming the reins in Dallas, one group of football fans remain a little confused about all the excitement: fantasy players, who have seen no value from Cowboys offensive players under Garrett’s play calling this year. “Jerry Jones is aware that the Cowboys scored only one touchdown on Sunday night right?” NFL.com’s Adam Rank writes. “You still cannot trust any of the running backs. The only players you should feel comfortable starting are WRs Dez Bryant and Miles Austin.”

Adding a little more fun to the day’s events? The Cowboys apparently forgot to renew their website domain registration. Even after the error was realized by the front office (Judd Garrett, we’re looking at you), the re-registration of the site still had to be processed by the hosting company. “As a result,” Victor Godinez of the Dallas Morning News writes, “many fans visiting the site Monday eager for news about the Cowboys’ flop in Green Bay and the status of head coach Wade Phillips were greeted with a stock image of two kids playing soccer.”

* * *

There was quite a bit of grave dancing among baseball bloggers on Monday when ESPN revealed that its Sunday Night Baseball announcing duo of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan would not return in 2011. Morgan’s contract was not renewed and Miller, a Hall of Famer, was offered a chance to keep his spot on ESPN Radio. Although Morgan took plenty of hits for his booth presence and refusal to jump on board with new baseball stats, this Daily Fixer enjoyed him (tomorrow’s Daily Fixer may have a different view), thought that he offered great insight, and has high hopes that either MLB or TBS picks both of the men up.

Milton Kent of FanHouse agrees. “With the furor of ‘The Decision’ having calmed to a low roar,” Kent writes, “the pooh-bahs at the Worldwide Leader stepped right into another mess.” Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk joined Kent in the pro-Morgan camp—although he did so far more reluctantly. “I can’t bring myself to join in to all of that ‘ding dong the witch is dead’ nonsense I read all around the baseball web last night. Morgan annoyed me, but never so much that I’d celebrate his departure,” Calcaterra writes. “He’d occasionally offer some good insights to go along with the bad stuff. In fact, it was often exciting to hear him say something insightful, because it was like catching someone trying to get away with something. Morgan was not the worst guy calling games. Not by a longshot. He even had some charms.”

With all the news of firings, and the holidays right around the corner, we’d like to offer some good news from the other end of the spectrum. Paul DePodesta, former general manager of the Dodgers, was hired by the Mets to be their vice president for player personnel and amateur scouting. He joins former Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi on new Mets GM Sandy Alderson’s staff. Both Ricciardi and DePodesta worked under Billy Beane in Oakland. Together with former Reds GM Wayne Krivsky, the Mets now have three former general managers working on Alderson’s staff. “There is a direct correlation between the intelligence of the people in your front office and the performance of your team on the field,” ESPN’s Rob Neyer writes. “Keep your eye on the Mets. If they suddenly begin doing intelligent things, it won’t take long before they’ve passed the Braves and are challenging the Phillies.”

Squatch—the Seattle Supersonics’ deposed mascot—made an appearance in Portland on Thursday night to remind fans that the promising Oklahoma City team was once Seattle’s…and they apparently left behind a now-homeless and unemployed mascot.

Comments (5 of 9)

Never had a problem with Joe - though sometimes recently he seemed cranky, like he would rather be in a hammock somewhere.

8:16 pm November 9, 2010

EG wrote:

Give me one Joe Morgan any day over these wannabe baseballers. The Milton Kents of this world remind me of sportswriter Max Mercy in The Natural. Roy Hobbes' question, "Did you ever play this game?" echoes still today, and hangers-on like Kent still inhabit the stagnant standing water around the edge of the river, pontificating on meaningless controversies and mindless stats. Joe Morgan loves the game he honored so much by his play and by his insightful understanding of what is REALLY going on in a given play. I hope he lands where I get a chance to hear him, and often.

3:20 pm November 9, 2010

RT wrote:

Now I like to see this in Wall Street where the incompetent is fired, not rewarded.

1:41 pm November 9, 2010

David Roth wrote:

"(tomorrow’s Daily Fixer may have a different view)"

I do, as it happens. But I can't get excited about Morgan getting axed any more than I can about anyone losing a job. And while Morgan often seemed to be on cliched autopilot a lot of the time, the real beef I had with him was his personal holy war against statistics and his know-nothing BS on Moneyball -- and you didn't get a sense of that so much during broadcasts, and that was to his credit. Dude obviously knew baseball, and it was impossible to miss that. And I always loved Miller, which generally made up for whatever issues I had with Morgan.

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